Faith of the Faint Smile
by Wordcounter
Summary: Live the life ... Become the legend ... With Faith, anything is possible. A Faith-centric story. YAHF A BTVS/Claymore/Prototype crossover.
1. Chapter 1

_**-The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm**_

This is my very first BTVS/Claymore/Prototype fanfic and crossover.

Date: 120110

Disclaimer: A BTVS/Claymore/Prototype crossover. All characters and concepts belong to their respective creators and owners.

Synopsis: Live the life ... Become the legend ... Does the Slayer have what it takes to live up to the name of the Faint Smile? YAHF ...

_**-The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm**_

_**"If I determine the enemy's disposition of forces while I have no perceptible form, I can concentrate my forces while the enemy is fragmented. The pinnacle of military deployment approaches the formless. If it is formless, then even the deepest spy cannot discern it nor the wise make plans against it."**_

_**Sun Tzu, Art of War,**_

_**Datalinks,**_

_**-The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm**_

**FAITH OF THE FAINT SMILE**

Part 1:

_I used to be just a weak little Slayer on the run from creatures of the night. _

_No longer. _

_Now I hunt them and they're the ones who run from me. Pausing briefly, I take a deep breath of the fresh air scattered by the gentle breeze. Ahhh ... The stench of their fear ... It is invigorating and I never tire of it. A cool wind blows through the air and I speed off into the night in search of prey. Run ... dearies ... run ... You can run but you cannot hide ..._

_I may not be Teresa of the Faint Smile or even the DX-1118 virus, Alex Mercer, any longer ... but her power and Blacklight still flow through me ... _

_So run ... bloodsuckers ... run ..._

_The Faint Smile is hunting tonight ... _

_- Excerpts from The Last Claymore_.

She was on the run. Oh ... where to go? Where to hide? From that walking nightmare that haunted her very dreams? Kakistos ... The very name itself inspired a terrible feeling of dread in her. Kakistos ... An ancient vampire of such age and power that he had lost his human form untold centuries ago. Kakistos ... the main cause of death of her Watcher, Diana Dormer, whom she had come to recognize as a parental figure ever since her becoming a Slayer.

Now, all that was left of her Watcher were some cherished memories while her killer remained free.

She had to keep moving. No place was safe. Even now, the ancient vampire's minions were rigorously combing the countryside inch by painful inch in their zeal to please their terrible master.

The desperate little Slayer felt another twitch of depression enter her. Of all the bloodsuckers that prowled the night in search of prey, why did she have to come face to face with Kakistos? Being the Slayer, she knew her duty as put forth by her Watcher but facing Kakistos was just too much. Oh how she wished that everything was just a bad dream and that she could wake up from it and find herself safe in bed once more. To see her Watcher again safely by her side. But alas for her ... this was not to be. Reality and fantasy were two completely different things as she knew all too well.

She was tired, hungry and homeless thanks to her current life as a fugitive. Her current run had finally taken her to this little-out-of-town place called Sunnydale where she hoped to lose her pursuers that seemed to dog her every step.

She had come here two days ago. Sunnydale was strange ... she thought and creepy. The streets were mostly deserted at night with few people who wandered the streets

Oddly enough, the streets seemed to be somewhat lit tonight like it was going into preparation for a festive occasion or something in that regard.

'_For what special occasion?_' she thought.

She looked at a building in the distance to see a boy accompanied by two girls entering the store. Two of the three were blonde while the other was red-haired. Before they could enter the store, however, three big or buff-looking guys opened the door with a grin on their faces. They stared at the boy in front of them like he was a cockroach and something derogatory.

The boy, however, simply stood his ground not giving an inch whatsoever. Finally, the three buff-looking guys said something that sounded rude before leaving the boy and two girls in derisive laughter. The boy, however, paid them no heed whatsoever and entered the store with the two girls. She considered meeting the boy and two girls but her problem with Kakistos made her hesitate.

When she had finally made up her mind to approach the three teenagers, the door of the store opened to show them leaving the store with boxes in their hands. The Slayer quickly moved to follow them when suddenly the blonde girl in the group turned in her direction to look at her.

Something strange warned her off about the short blonde girl of the group and she stopped in her tracks. The Slayer hesitated and quickly moved off to hide behind a street corner. A figure in one of the shadows alley way disturbed her, however, and she quickly turned back to the store only to find them gone.

Not wanting to remain alone in the dark though her internal Slayer said otherwise, she headed for the safety of the store building. Unseen, the figure in the shadows pulled out a cellphone and made a call.

"Found her," the figure in the shadows said.

"Where?" The voice on the other end growled impatiently.

"Sunnydale," it continued before stepping out to reveal a man in a business suit.

"Do whatever you want with her but make sure that she's alive when I get to her, you hear me? She owes me for that mark," the other voice continued to growl impatiently.

"Not a problem. We'll bring her to you," the figure answered.

"See that you do. I would be very displeased if you failed," the other voice growled warningly.

"I won't," the figure said and hung up.

_**-The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm**_

The Slayer stepped into the store a little timidly and saw that it was filled with clothing and paraphernalia of all kinds. It took her sometime to realise that they were actually props or costumes for some special occasion.

"Found anything you like?" a jovial voice called out.

The fugitive Slayer turned in the direction of the voice to see a man in his thirties at the counter looking at her.

"Sorry sir ... I didn't mean to intrude," she answered somewhat fearfully.

"Nonsense! It's Halloween tonight! Go get a costume before you go! Clothings for princessess, dresses for superheroes .... and ... Hah! Working costumes for the business-minded!" the man chuckled.

The man continued talking about the costumes trying to get her to buy one until Faith was ready to bolt. She had already voiced her disinterest in several of the costumes when she caught sight of two figures lurking in the streets.

'Crap! Don't tell me that HE's ALREADY FOUND ME!' She thought desperately.

The Slayer moved deeper into the store with the storekeeper following her along when she caught sight of it ...

The hooded jacket ...

It hung proudly in its display.

'It would make a perfect disguise!' she thought in trying to maintain a low profile.

The Slayer pointed at the hooded jacket and asked for the price. The man quickly rang up a bill over the counter and was about to put it in a box when she simply shook her head. Quickly she wore it over her T-shirt and covered her face with the hood.

"Can't wait to get into the costume already, eh?" the friendly storekeeper remarked.

"Yup," the Slayer answered briefly, her only desire now was to leave the store before Kakistos found her.

She quickly ran over to the other items in the store that she thought could be used as a makeshift weapon. Many of them turned out to be disappointments as they were just simply props but there was this large sword that happened to be made of real steel in the corner of the rack. Her hand reached for it and she asked for the price.

The owner simply smiled and rang up another bill that the Slayer quickly paid with whatever she had left in her pocket. It was barely enough and the owner simply said his good-bye.

She then departed from the store without another word. Outside the store, the Slayer quickly made for the safety of another building.

A few minutes after she had left the store, the sign CLOSE could be seen hanging ominously outside the door.

Inside the store, the storekeeper grinned inwardly.

'Never seen what the use of two costumes could do at one time. Would be interesting to watch,' he thought with wicked relish.

_**-The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm**_

The fugitive Slayer had not gone far from the store when she saw a few figures moved in her direction. Her Slayer senses instinctively told her that these were vampires heading for her. A strange feeling of dread filled her stomach and she quickly made for the safety of the building on the opposite side of the street. More vampires stepped out from the shadows of the street to block her escape.

A vampire in a business suit called out to her.

"You led us on quite a chase, Slayer. But this is where your flight ends. Master Kakistos sends his regards and will be here shortly," he smiled.

This was it ... the end. The Slayer took a deep breath and held out her large steel sword in preparation for combat.

_'It is not strength in numbers or the power within you that makes the difference,' a voice that sounded suspiciously like her Watcher seemed to say. _

_'What makes the difference?' the Slayer had asked. _

_'It is what drives you and the belief to make it happen that makes the difference. If you have but faith the size of a mustard seed, you can command a mountain to jump into the sea and it will do as you command,' the voice continued._

_'But there's so many of them ...' she had said._

_'Have faith ... Remember Goliath ...' the voice had answered reassuringly._

At these words, the Slayer calmed down inwardly as the two groups of vampires moved to surround her.

Inside the store, a certain storekeeper had begun his preparations to invoke the power of Janus.

_**-The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm**_

"Take her down! I want her alive!" the vampire who appeared to be the leader had ordered.

Faith swung her sword around her warily in a two-handed grip. She had already dusted several vampires but there were still more coming at her and she was already bleeding badly from several wounds. Her movements had become sloppier and slower due to her injuries but still she fought on as more and more vampires came at her. A motionless Slayer was a dead Slayer, after all.

"Remember, Kakistos wants her alive!" the vampire leader barked his command repeatedly into the night.

Another vampire lashed out causing an ugly wound to to appear on her right arm. Ignoring the pain, Faith swung down the steel sword and cut the vampire into two ... turning it to dust in the process. Another blow from the back knocked her flat to the ground but she recovered and stabbed the assailant, turning it to dust as well.

The Slayer coughed out some blood and held out her sword defiantly. The other vampires moved simultaneously at her from both the front and the back while dropping a net onto her. They struck at her, easily now since she was trapped in the net. Blow after agonizing blow fell on top of her in repeated attempts to disable her and relieve her of her weapon though the Slayer stubbornly refused to let go of it.

'Have _faith_ ...' a voice seemed to say from nowhere.

"Diana ... " the Slayer gasped weakly and she knew no more.

"Got her! Stubborn little bitch! Really want to make her suffer for it!" one of the vampires kicked her roughly before being stopped by the leader of the group.

"Don't worry on that account! When Kakistos's through with her, she's going to wish she were never born! Secure the prisoner!" the leader ordered.

A few vampires approached the unconscious Slayer with some ropes to tie up her body in the net.

Not faraway inside a certain Halloween store, a chaos mage called Ethan Rayne had just completed his invocation to Janus.

_**-The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm**_

_'I am Teresa of the Faint Smile ...' _a voice spoke from nowhere.

_'I am Alex Mercer ...'_ a second voice answered.

_'I am Teresa of the Faint Smile ...'_ the first voice insisted.

_'I am Alex Mercer ...'_ the second voice insisted just as stubbornly.

_'I am Teresa of the Faint Smile and that's final ...'_ her mind pushed forward.

_'I am Alex Mercer and that is final as well ...'_ the second mind pushed back just as hard.

_'I am Teresa of the Faint Smile and no one else ...'_ her mind voice echoed powerfully through the landscape of the Slayer's mind.

_'I am Alex Mercer and no one else ...'_ the second voice echoed just as strongly around the Slayer's mindscape as well.

The argument went on and on and in most likelihood would have continued on forever if it were not for the injuries inflicted upon the unconscious Slayer's body forcing the Blacklight virus and the halfbreed's youki to get to work on the injuries and alerting the Alex Mercer entity and the Teresa persona to the dire situation that the unconscious Slayer was in.

Unseen by her captors, the wounds on the Slayer's body began to fade in a ripple of black and red colours as the unconscious Slayer's eyes opened to reveal silver-coloured pupils. The Slayer was no longer present and its demonic essence suppressed by the divine power of Janus only to be replaced by something far more dangerous and volatile - an unstable combination of a Claymore's essence and the Blacklight virus.

Teresa's combat instincts immediately came to the fore upon seeing the situation she was in. The beings who had bound her body had a strange form of youki that flowed through their bodies similar in some way to the youma that she had slain in the past but not as strong.

They had bound her tightly with ropes around the net that had been dropped onto the Slayer's body. Drawing on her formidable strength as the strongest Number One in the history of the Organisation, Teresa snapped the ropes binding her easily, much to the surprise and shock of the vampires surrounding her.

The net and the ropes disappeared in a shower of dust to reveal their former prisoner holding the large steel sword in her hands. The most disconcerting fact about the girl wasn't her sword, however, but the metallic silver colour of her pupils in her eyes. Even Trick, a centuries old vampire found himself slightly unnerved by them.

"Get her!" he shouted after a few moments of struggling to control his urge to flee from the girl.

All of his survival instincts were telling him to run from the place immediately though he did not know the reason why.

Trick was puzzled and more than slightly annoyed. Why did he feel such fear in the presence of the Slayer now? The Slayer had never frightened him to such a degree before ... it had to be just his imagination ... or was that a trick of the light? The wind blew slightly and all the vampires surrounding him toppled over into piles of dust ... and the vampire Trick knew no more ...

_**-The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm**_

Piles of dust collapsed around the girl like dominoes. The girl was a blur of movement, her strikes so fast and precise that they those weak youma hadn't even had a chance to register them before they were destroyed, pitiful as they were. Her eyes even without having to see around her, knew that her targets had all been taken out, none the wiser. The alleyway was now as silent as the dead both literally figuratively in light of what she had done.

The weak youma would be troubling no one any further as none remained ... Everything was quiet like it should be ...

All of a sudden, from out of nowhere, large spikes erupted from out of the ground piercing everything around it from people to vehicles and even the buildings close to it. The Claymore was caught by surprise when a large spike ripped through her chest. Her body went limp as it struggled to repair the damage done. The large spike then retracted back into the ground.

A figure in black clothing stepped forward from the shadows of the warehouse and approached the body silently. The body remained motionless until the figure in black clothing moved to pick her up. Suddenly, the seemingly dead body of the girl came to life and in one swift motion struck the figure before her, sending the man in black gear flying more than a hundred feet into the air.

There was a loud crash as he landed on the roof of a car, caving it in almost instantly. The black-clad figure was up in an instant, his apparently more than human nature coming to the fore. He let out a roar of anger and sped off into the direction of the person that had dared to strike him.

The Number One, sensing danger quickly brought up her Claymore to intercept the rapid blow coming at her. Much to her surprise, the blow was stronger and faster than she had expected, forcing her back a few steps. Sharp claws that could easily rend flesh tore at her and she struggled to adapt to her foe's attacks leaving her no chance to counterattack the strange youma in human form and black clothing.

What made it more difficult for Teresa to fight this youma was her inability to detect its youki in its seemingly human body. This was the second time she had to face an opponent who had the ability to hide its youki from her. The first time this happened was when she had to fight Priscilla for her survival. She did not think that this would have happened again but once again fate had proven her wrong.

This youma, which was easily stronger than Priscilla, had the ability to hide what seemed like its youki from her which was a serious concern for Teresa who relied on reading the flow of youki through her opponent's body to predict its movements. ... Either that ... or it did not appear to have a single drop of youki in its body whatsoever which was an even bigger concern. Its fast and increasingly powerful blows were easily jarring her arms when she blocked its attacks.

For the first time in the fight, Teresa was forced to draw on her youki to keep up with her powerful opponent. She raised her limit to ten percent ... That was the second time she had ever used youki in her life. With the increased youki pumping through her blood, she was able to fend off her opponent's attacks and launch several attacks of her own.

Her blows became stronger and faster driving her opponent back. As if sensing the increased power from her, her opponent's blows steadily grew in ferocity and intensity as well. The force from their blows were so strong that they began to shatter the surrounding buildings and vehicles just from the shock waves when claw and blade collided ...

They fought over the road ... they fought over rooftops ... and they even fought over metal poles with wires stretched taut between them. Second after second. Minute after minute. She had to give the youma this ... it was one tough cookie ... In actual fact, it was the toughest cookie she had ever faced and that was saying a lot. No opponent had ever lasted that long with her, much less given her a challenge like this creature had.

Without any further hesitation, she raised her limit to twenty percent. Her sudden increase in strength and speed appeared to have caught the creature by surprise. She was able to cut through its defenses instantly, forcing the black-clad figure with an unusual-looking face mask to drop to its feet.

Spikes that easily towered above the roof burst through the ground beneath her feet impaling her for the second time that day and she felt herself fading ... Her hands shifted into claws in a ripple of black and red before plunging into the ground. Black and red spikes broke through the surface of the ground piercing the blackclad figure and the building behind it, shattering it completely as it ... erupted in a kaleidoscope of colours ...

A powerful force tugged suddenly at Teresa's consciousness and she knew nothing more ...

TBC

_**-The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm**_

Another idea that I had while writing up Blacklight and Shadowwarrior. Seems like I'm in a Prototype phase .... ^_^

_**-The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**-The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm**_

This is my very first BTVS/Claymore/Prototype fanfic and crossover.

Date: 140410

Disclaimer: A BTVS/Claymore/Prototype crossover. All characters and concepts belong to their respective creators and owners.

Synopsis: Live the life ... Become the legend ... Does the Slayer have what it takes to live up to the name of the Faint Smile? YAHF ...

_**-The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm**_

_**"If I determine the enemy's disposition of forces while I have no perceptible form, I can concentrate my forces while the enemy is fragmented. The pinnacle of military deployment approaches the formless. If it is formless, then even the deepest spy cannot discern it nor the wise make plans against it."**_

_**Sun Tzu, Art of War,**_

_**Datalinks,**_

_**-The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm**_

**FAITH OF THE FAINT SMILE**

Part 2:

A pair of consciousness returned to two bodies, and as one two people looked at each other in startlement.

"What place is this? Who are you?" Both the Slayer and the Zeppo kid asked at the same time.

"I am Xander," Xander answered carefully, not wanting to antagonize the beautiful girl before him.

"Faith," the girl answered carefully, looking at the surroundings for the usual signs of danger.

"You didn't try anything, did you?" Her voice turned accusatory as her eyes narrowed.

"No. Nothing of the sort," Xander answered nervously.

"I remember now. You tried to kill me," the beautiful girl answered as her hand lashed and seized Xander by the neck to lift him into the air.

"It wasn't me! I tell you!" Xander let out a strangled gasp.

_Large spikes that easily towered over the rooftops of the surrounding buildings broke through the ground tearing through the vampires and many of the other creatures that prowled the night into dust. Xander looked on in ... the expected feeling guilt and disgust did not manifest ... strangely enough ... Was that how it felt after having killed a whole group of people? One death is considered murder while more than that is treated as a statistic? _

_This odd feeling of detachment despite the fact that he remembered having gone on a killing spree in Sunnydale during Halloween ... correction ... make that the Supreme Hunter that had gone on a killing spree during Halloween ... Xander desperately tried to feel something for its victims but the feelings of guilt remained elusive. _

_The Supreme Hunter was a mass murderer through and through ... that much was certain. It had slaughtered and consumed all that it had encountered without mercy or guilt whatsoever ... devouring not only their physical forms but memories as well. The Zeppo clearly remembered having dressed up as Captain Cross that night in Halloween. _

_Currently, as it was, he also possessed all the abilities and memories of the former Blackwatch commander except that he was not Captain Cross. Instead, he was the Supreme Hunter, a rejected concoction of unknown DNA designed to 'cure' both Zeus and Greene, who had then slain and consumed the former Captain Cross. The DX-1118 viral detectors designed for detecting and locating Zeus proved useless in detecting the presence of the Supreme Hunter which was the counteragent to the virus rather than the virus itself. _

_What was worse, the Supreme Hunter had several abilities similar to Zeus such as manifesting razor-sharp claws and towering spikes from the ground in addition to increased armour, superior regeneration, super strength, scale walls, consume and disguise. When the Supreme Hunter had detected Faith, it had been immediately drawn to her presence with the sole desire to consume and then acquire her abilities._

Her eyes lit up suddenly giving way to a playful smirk before letting him down on his feet.

"Just kidding ..." she threw him a disarming smile.

Any further conversation between the two, however was interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps.

What looked like soldiers in old metal armour carrying crossbows in their hands surrounded them.

"Claymore!" Some of the guards voiced out in a mixture of fear and disgust upon catching sight of Faith's face and the weapon in her hand.

The rest of the words were a mystery to both Faith and Xander who didn't understand a word that the guards in archaic gear were saying.

"It's one of those silver-eyed witches! How did they get into the city undetected?" one of them shouted in anger.

"Kill her right now!"

"What about the boy?"

"What's he doing with one of those halfbreeds?"

"Are you sure it's even possible to take down one of those halfbreeds?"

Something like an argument continued to rage back and forth between the guardsmen. Finally a man, better dressed and more heavily armoured than the rest approached the group and gave an order.

"Throw them into the dungeons. We will decide their fate tomorrow!"

Both Xander and Faith were clapped in irons and thrown into what appeared to be a dungeon from medieval times.

_**-The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm**_

"Not a very friendly group of people," Xander quipped despite their current predicament.

"Looks like it," the Slayer agreed though she hesitated at giving her sole weapon up.

She would have fought her way out had the circumstances been different but having loaded crossbows pointed at her proved to be quite an effective deterrent to that idea.

"What are they going to do with us?" the Slayer wondered.

"I think we will find out before long," Xander answered.

"Not too long, I hope. I'm getting tired of this place," Faith commented.

She was already seriously considering the thought of using her Slayer strength to break out of the medieval prison.

"Me too," Xander agreed.

"So what did you do before this?" Faith asked.

"Nothing much. Went to school and all that. What about you?" Xander asked.

"I did a lot of housecleaning, clearing up dust and all that," Faith answered somewhat evasively.

She did not want to tell him what she actually did for a living. Her Watcher had warned her about it, telling her that people would think she was crazy and all that. What normal person would believe in the existence of vampires and demons?

Their small talk continued until their conversation was interrupted by the opening gates of the large dungeon. A man in brown robes stepped into the dungeon with what appeared to be a holy symbol affixed to his robes. He was accompanied by three guards in heavy chainmail, holding loaded crossbows and spears.

With but a gesture, he dismissed them, before turning to the two prisoners.

_**-The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm**_

"Must be a priest or something," Xander remarked.

The man started by introducing himself but Xander and Faith did not understand a word. Faith tried English but the old man simply shook his head. Then the old man tried what seemed like another language but neither Faith nor Xander understood what he was saying.

Then Xander tried whatever foreign language he knew (Greek in this case), but the old man understood not a word. The lack of a common language to communicate eventually forced both sides to resort to sign language. After a few minutes of sign language, they managed to get the basics handled down. Namely :- I, Xander. You, Father Malone. I, Father Malone. You, Faith. And from there, it grew.

The minutes slipped into hours with both sides making serious attempts to communicate. The results were mixed.

Suddenly, the sound of a large bell tolling in the distance disrupted the monotony of their communication session. There were shouts and the sounds of running feet. The gates to the cell block burst open and several men in heavy chainmail rushed up to the old priest. Their faces were grim as were their voices.

The leader of the armed group pointed at Xander and Faith but the old priest simply shook his head and said something to the heavily armed man that made him even more unhappy. The old man, however, remained resolute though the leader glared back defiantly.

Finally, the leader acquicsed and took the keys to open the door to the dungeons. The doors opened and the leader stepped in to unlock the chains that tied their arms and legs together. The leader pointed at the two of them and pointed again at the entrance to the dungeon. The old man simply nodded his head and indicated with his hands that they should follow the heavily armed man.

_**-The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm**_

"Wonder what they plan to do with us?" the Slayer could not help but wonder as she was still feeling apprehensive about the whole matter.

"Guess we're about to find out," Xander answered.

The large steel sword was being handed back to her and Faith received it gratefully. As her hands closed around the weapon, however, her mind was suddenly bombarded by a flood of images, depicting a beautiful but deadly blonde woman with hair that reached down to her shoulders, fighting and killing monsters even more dreadful than Kakistos.

Dropping to her knees, she stopped while taking a deep breath.

"What happened?" Xander asked worriedly as he moved to catch the Slayer before she hit the ground.

"A dream ... more like a vision ... of someone," Faith answered while taking deep breaths.

"You can let go of me now. I'm fine," she added as she moved to straighten herself.

The Zeppo released her from where he caught her.

The guards simply snorted in disgust at the scene before resuming their march to wherever they were taking them.

_**-The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm**_

A large tall building like a cathedral towered before them in its splendour.

Heavily armed soldiers guarded the entrance to the cathedral with its beautiful mosaic multi-coloured glass panels on the wall. They drew their weapons upon seeing Faith but a gesture from the Sunnydalers' escorts silenced the sentries. The guards stood past and let the pair through into the large building. A silent but solemn atmosphere permeated the building. But it wasn't the hostile looks of the guards or even the bodies lying on the ground that made the air stiffling.

It was something else in the air ... something subtle but present. Faith could feel its malignancy ... and evil lurking in the background of the structure ... like a predator lying in wait for its prey.

"What's wrong, Faith?" Xander asked upon seeing her slight frown.

"Just keep your eyes open, Xander. There's something evil in this place," Faith let her otherworldly senses guide her footsteps through the large structure.

The guards followed gestured at them as though wanting them to follow. But Faith did not. Instead her footsteps took her further and further away from the guards until ... she reached a large wooden coffin that was left exposed to the open air in a corner of the chamber.

The captain noticing Faith's deviation from the path he wanted, immediately barked a command, which Faith promptly ignored. His face growing red with anger, he gestured to his armed escorts to bring Faith back to him. Instead she drew out the large two-handed sword, startling the armed escorts who responded by pointing their crossbows at the Slayer.

"Faith ... I think they're serious ... You're not seriously considering fighting your way out of here, are you?" Xander asked a little nervously who didn't feel he was ready to take on fully armed guards with loaded crossbows.

"Take it easy, honey. The only thing that has something to worry about is ... THIS!!" her voice ended in a shout as her large blade plunged itself straight into the corpse lying in the coffin much to everyone's disbelief.

A loud roar of pain and anger tore through the silence of the cathedral, startling the guards as the 'corpse' leaped up high into the air, shifting in shape and size to become a large monstrous creature with glowing yellow eyes.

_**-The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm**_

"Youma!" the guards shrieked before turning their crossbows from Faith to the nightmarish creature that had terrorized the guards for many nights in the past.

The creature responded by dodging their shots ... or _tried_ _to_ being the key words here as it was rather difficult to do so when the lower half of its body had effectively broken off from the top half to fall to the hard ground in its leap upwards. It seemed that the Slayer's blade had done more damage than just stabbing its body in that downward strike.

In the distance, the sound of the guards' cries of shock and the creature's roar of pain had attracted more guards to the site and the creature could only watch helplessly, unable to move as the vengeful guardsman unleashed volley after volley of their deadly metal bolts into its injured body. Still it struggled mightily to defend itself by extending its claws towards the guards but one quick slash from Faith's large two-handed sword instantly put an end to that offending limb.

From a distance, Xander watched the slaughter dispassionately as the creature struggled valiantly against the soldiers. It wasn't enough, he realised. If the creature had the _Supreme Hunter_'s regeneration and inhuman capabilities perhaps ... but not in this case.

Another volley of deadly metal shafts punctured its body, forcing out another roar of pain and anger though its struggles were weaker than before. More arrows hit the body and in its final death throes, it emitted a howl loud enough to wake the dead before falling to the ground in a heap for the last time. It did not rise again.

_**-The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm**_

For a few moments, as if not believing the creature was dead, the soldiers were silent, unable to move or speak. Finally, one of them mustered the courage to approach the creature and struck a mighty blow, removing the head in one clean strike for all to see. The removal of the creature's head seemed to have brought the soldiers out of their stupor.

As if registering the death of the creature for the first time, the soldiers shouted in joy over their victory. One of the priests approached Faith and thanked her for her assistance before pressing a large bag filled with gold ingots into her palms. The Slayer could not help but open her eyes wide with wonder at the sheer amount of it. This was a lot of gold!

"Thank you!" Faith answered even though she knew he could not understand her words.

Xander could only look on in amazement and a little envy at his new friend's good fortune before they were both ushered out of the large cathedral-like structure by the guards. The pair followed the guards through the city streets where they were led to the city gates. Around them curious onlookers gathered to watch them though they whispered fearfully among themselves upon catching sight of Faith's silver-coloured pupils.

Since the city was pretty big and they had to walk at the pace the guards were using to get from one point to another, the entire trip took slightly more than an hour to reach their destination. Their escorts gave the sentries guarding the entrance the go-ahead and the gates opened opened to reveal a boy and a woman in a hooded grey robe on the other side.

The boy just looked like another average street urchin though the blonde woman beside him ... bore something different ... something dangerous ... like an otherworldly cast to her features despite her seemingly ordinary appearance. As though feeling the Slayer's stare, the woman turned her head to look straight into her eyes and the expression on the woman's face changed rapidly from shock to disbelief before finally settling onto sadness.

"Teresa!" the hooded woman cried out before throwing her arms around Faith.

Upon hearing the name being called out, the Slayer dropped to her feet as if in pain!

TBC

_**-The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm**_

Another idea that I had while writing up Blacklight and Shadowwarrior. Seems like I'm in a Prototype phase .... ^_^

_**-The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm**_


End file.
